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Jordan Pass – don’t pass on it

Yesterday – oddly, yesterday in the late evening, Jordan time – I spotted, by chance, this Facebook status by Adel Amin, director of marketing at the Jordan Tourism Board. It announced the Jordan Pass, a unified ticket for many of Jordan’s historical sites that is an attempt to help revive the country’s desperately struggling tourist trade.

Looking at the detail – which, initially, wasn’t easy, because the Jordan Pass website has been coded poorly and didn’t display properly on my phone; I had to resort to my desktop – there is much to praise.

First, the idea is simple. One ticket, bought before you leave home and sent by email, serves to waive the 40 JD fee charged on arrival for a visa and grants free admission to over 40 sites (including Petra).

It shows a bit of innovative thinking – the idea of trying to make a visit to Jordan easier, less bound up with red tape and restrictions, is a sound one. It also shows that there is some degree of cooperation emerging among stakeholders in the industry. Cooperation is good.

Most importantly, it’s one of the first steps by the Jordanian authorities to recognise that tourism patterns have changed and that independent travellers really matter. Group tourists will remain largely unaffected by this product (they already benefit from a visa fee waiver and usually have the cost of site entry fees bound up in their total holiday price).

The Jordan Pass is about making life easier for individual tourists. And the future of Jordanian tourism lies in encouraging individual tourists.

The pricing is good. At 70/75/80 JD – depending on whether you choose 1, 2 or 3 days at Petra – it’s a bargain. With a visa at 40 JD and entry to Petra alone costing 50/55/60 JD – before you even consider Wadi Rum, Jerash and the rest – most people will save money. Sometimes, quite a lot of money.

(Whether the Jordanian public funds spent on developing this product would have been better spent on reducing Petra’s fees to stimulate more headline growth is another argument.)

Idiosyncrasies

But there are a few idiosyncrasies – and a few problems.

Buried in the terms and conditions, it says the pass is only valid for 2 weeks. To see 40 sites in 2 weeks, especially some of these farflung spots, you’d have to race. The standard tourist visa is valid for a month – I wonder why the pass wasn’t also valid for the same period.

There are some significant ticketed sites omitted from the scheme. These include the Baptism Site (admission 12 JD), Mount Nebo (2 JD), the Church of the Map in Madaba (1 JD), the Jordan Museum in Amman (5 JD), the Royal Automobile Museum (3 JD) – and probably more, including the hugely popular candlelit Petra By Night walk (12 JD).

And this totally ignores the non-historical sites, such as the Dana Biosphere Reserve (7 JD), Ajloun Forest (7 JD), Wadi Mujib (13 JD) and so on.

On a supposedly universal pass that already costs 70 JD, having to fork out anything from 15 to 50 or 60 JDs extra to see such key sights is very disappointing.

Equally, there are many sites included in the pass which are either free anyway (Pella, Umm Ar Rasas, Shobak Castle, Qasr Al Hallabat/Hammam As Srah, Lahhun, Humeima, Tell Mar Elias, Qasr Mushatta, Salt Historical Museum, etc) or which, in my ignorance, I’ve never been to (Rehab, Umm as Surab). I don’t know which site is meant by “Al Sarhan”.

It’s a pity that, on top of the poor website coding, the list of included attractions has mistakes. Humeima is listed with a photo of Aqaba. The photo of Al Sarhan – an image watermarked by APAAME – looks like it has been used without permission. And wouldn’t it have been nice if this page – a dead gallery – could have included some information on each place, linking to a map, to help inform people and entice them to visit? The map provided is very poorly executed.

Good thing

On a 70 JD pass, I make the total cost of admission to every included site, were you to pay separately, 83 JD in total. (It’s unexpectedly hard to work out, exactly, but I think that’s right.) Add in the 40 JD visa fee waiver, and a total saving of 53 JD is enough to get my vote.

On balance, the Jordan Pass is a good thing. It’s a start, and it follows up the announcements made earlier in the year, which would have been better kept back until now. As it is, I can’t find a press release about the Jordan Pass anywhere – at the time of this writing, the only info to go on is a Facebook post and the website itself. Some of those earlier announcements about visa regulations remain unaddressed, incidentally.

The test will come, firstly, when someone tries to buy it (does the online purchasing work? Please tell me in the comments below) – and, as always, in whether the effort can be sustained. Will the scheme be honoured at every site? Will a nervous foreigner who doesn’t speak Arabic or English showing a QR code on a cracked phone screen to airport immigration staff – or officials at one of the quieter border posts – at 3 in the morning really be granted a free visa? Will the QR scanning technology work every time? Do you need a charged phone battery in order to be granted admission, or can you print out your QR code in case?

Will the scheme still be up and running in a year’s time? Two years’ time? Five years’ time?

I hope so.

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76 Comments

Tony howard

Good one Mathew, I was wondering myself, but you have done the homework. Well done, tony

I was in Jordan 3 weeks ago, you certainly shouldn’t pass on this lovely country. I had a private tour booked and was pleasantly surprised when I was issued a free visa at Jordan airport by a very friendly customs agent. All I needed to do was hold on to the document they gave me and show it on my way out. Two weeks is plenty of time to get around Jordan and the people are so friendly, great food and roads are safe to travel on. If you are planning a trip it will be a memorable one.

Hi Matthew yes it was at Amman airport I was in Jordan for 4 days and because I was visiting 3 historic places, Dead Sea, Petra and Jaresh I could get a free visa. It’s a change that came in early July to help tourism saved me $40JD. The pass that was mentioned in the blog sounds like a great deal because visiting Petra alone is expensive compared to what I paid for sites in Egypt. Minimum 3 sites will get you are free visa.

It looks like Stephanie had a private tour booked. Free visas are available to those who:
– book a tour with a tour operator and send passport details in advance
– spend at least 2 consecutive nights in Jordan

Looks like she had a private tour booked. Free visas are available if you:
– book a tour through a tour operator and send them passport details in advance
– spend at least 2 consecutive nights in Jordan

Hi Matthew – as a jordan tour operator we tried to work out the cost as well – we got it to about 83 JD using the visitjordan website -but a lot of the sites such as the desert castles and smaller museums are not listed. Most are usually about 1 JD, So we figure it could be a lot higher. Which in a way is a good thing – but at the same time a bit of a con as not many people wish to travel to Jordan at the moment never mind to the eastern desert close to the Iraq/Syria borders where these sites are! ( Umm Al-Jimal, Hayyan al-Musharraf, Umm Al-Surab, Sama Al-Sarhan, Qasr Azraq, Qasr Amra etc) It would have been better to include much more popular sites (the ruins are impressive – but in the grand scheme of things not very popular with tourists) as a better incentive for people to visit.

Also, like you mentioned – there has been no press release – it was mentioned in Jordan Times today, but a small article could be easily missed. JTB say they have plans to promote it across Europe. But if they are as good at spreading the word in Jordan as they were about the previous visa waivers for groups travelling with tour operators (we heard it from you first we are still waiting for official notice from JTB!) it will be a while until it starts running glitch free.

All good points, Suzanne, thanks for your comments. I agree, it’s unnecessarily confusing, and the selection of sites isn’t strong – but, as I said, it’s a start, and it includes Petra, Wadi Rum, Jerash & Amman, which are on most visitors’ must-see list. It’s a pity they couldn’t bring in RSCN/Wild Jordan too, along with perks like a boat ride in Aqaba or a set-menu meal at a nice restaurant in Amman. And the elephant in the room is still the ticket price at Petra! Too high!

We at JTB are glad that you’ve had the chance to check out the Jordan Pass website! As with all websites and services there is a small period of time where we need to test everything out with real people. No matter how much you try to plan ahead you will always face glitches and the testing over the past few days has given us great feedback not only on technical difficulties but on design and content as well. With such a huge project we didn’t want to overly publicize before being 100% certain that every link and every button works.

The project is an ambitious one, we are starting with sites that fall under the care of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (hence mostly historical sites), we’re hoping to expand the Jordan Pass’ offerings to include so much more if not completely inclusive in the price of the pass then at least at a discounted rate for pass holders.

hi Lana – many thanks for your response. I wish Jordan every success with the scheme. I hope that JTB can bring in sites such as Mount Nebo and the Madaba map church, as well as the RSCN for Dana and Wadi Mujib, and I hope – above all – that the scheme gets full local backing and stays as a permanent fixture, not abandoned after a few months.

Are there any plans for a ‘landing card’ at the airport, so that JTB can get a better idea of who is arriving, from which country, and for what reason?

We’re working on the new additions and are very hopeful at the possibility of adding them in the future.

As for the landing card, we’ve been working on one with MOTA for a while now. While it hasn’t officially been launched we have been testing it out for the past couple of months for different routes constantly adding and editing its format to reach a polished and practical form that would fit our needs.

It’s a good question – I don’t know the answer. If you’re leaving by air, your departure tax is already bound up in the cost of your ticket, so it’s not an issue. Leaving by land you would normally pay departure tax in cash – I don’t know whether the Jordan Pass waives that fee as well. Maybe Lana or someone from JTB could reply?

One has to wonder, if the effort to promote this to the buying public is so low, can one expect that all the relevant officials at the airport and tourism sites will be informed of it? Like you mentioned, independent visitors (many of whom I imagine have little Arabic) are hassled, this pass could very easily get a reputation as being useless.

If you’re departing by air the tax will be part of the airfare you already paid. The plan is to refund the departure tax directly to the pass holding passenger at the airport. We’re working it all out now and the tax refund desk should be set up within a month!

Thanks, Lana. That’s good news. But not so good for people with the Jordan Pass already – how come the pass was launched without the refund system in place already? Also, is there a similar system for people exiting at the land or sea borders?

The pass was launched with the visa waiver initially. The departure tax is an additional feature that we’re working on with several different governmental organizations to make sure that it goes smoothly. As for land and sea borders, I would need to check on that with the Ministry and fill you in!

I’m reading on a spanish travelling forum that some people are having issues when trying to buy the Jordan Pass. Page doesn’t go through after entering credit card details and people have tried with different cards and browsers. And no replies have been given after emailing about this problem. I’m travelling in December, I hope all this problems are solved by then, because it is very frustrating.

Hello,
Lyma, restricted passport holders will still have to apply for visa clearance from their home country or the country they are residing in.

Juan, Ideally the pass is made for people staying for more than 3 nights in Jordan, in order for them to get the best out of the pass and its services.

As for the payment issue, Zipper, this issue seems to occur at the banks the buyers deal with, because the transaction times out before the payment is processed.

And we have only had this occur to only a very small percentage of our buyers. If this happens to you we suggest you contact your credit card provider before attempting it multiple times, because after a certain number of attempts the credit card provider might block the IP address for security reasons.

We have some clients wanting to buy the pass having the same problem as Zipper. They emailed [email protected] and got no reply – we have tried contacting them today and so far have been told ‘the problem is the bank not us’ – No reason, no explanation, no advice as to how to fix it. Not very good customer service. Especially seeing as the issue seems to be happening to more and more people.
Anyone else manage to resolve the issue? any advice I can pass on to my clients? Any one from JTB willing to give me some advice?

i’m sorry to report it here- as a tour operator its essential that this great project works well – and is advertised as working well! but when I send emails/tweet to ask for advice I get no reply. I seen that Taima and Lana seem to be following this post so hopefully will get some answers this way.

Hi! We took the Jordan Pass yesterday evening and left this morning early. We didn’t print it but had all possible tickets (print and mobile) on our phones. When the guy at the visum desk saw that, he had to sigh and check with his colleague. Then we were taken to a small office close to the passport control. We have never known what the problem was, since no one of the 6 persons we saw could speak English to inform us. We sent our tickets via bluetooth to one of the officers, who sent it to another colleague via WhatsApp (we think). Still no idea what exactly was the problem… They said “5 minutes” several times 😉 After one hour and a half we could go back to the visum desk, where still was the issue of putting the stamp but one officer was really helping us by telling his superior to just put the stamp and proceed us. We were happy that after this while our bags weren’t gone since they were left unattended.
Why do you think this happened? They should know how to proceed people with this Jordan Pass, since more and more people will use it we suppose… We were not comfortable and a bit stressed during the waiting.Thanks for your answer! Sofie and Stijn from Belgium

I also believe it must be shared with more Jordan people in touristic functions. Today even at the Roman theatre it was again to us to explain a bit, but we got in. The guy from the Odeon was very doubtful. And at last, at the Citadel entrance they didn’t know it at all. After checking, a police officer wrote down our passport info and let us through. We hope all other entrances will also work out… 🙂

Be very careful with the payments with credit card in Jordan Pass web. Last week I tried to pay several times and the web gave a message of repeated failure at processing credit cards. I wrote an email to the website and they answered me that the payment hd not been completed due to a technical failure with the bank. I couldnt purchase the Jordan Pass before my trip. To my surprise two days ago I found 7 wrong charges in my credit cards for more than 1000 euros that I have had to claim to VISA. I have requested Jordan Pass website to cancel the charges and I am waiting for their response. So far I have no answer. The working of the website is a disaster and I dont recommend payments with credit cards in it, until these serious mistakes are solved. Marta. Spain

Hello,
I bought the JordanPass September 19. No problem with the VISA card, and now, I get the Jordan Pass Email a PDF in two formats. and jpg.
Now I think the police at the border and in the sites know this pass. I leave on October 13.
Nicole (Belgium but living in France)

We still have had some discussions with locals and then loose half an hour. For example at the temple of Machaeres. I understand them that they dont see the money at that time, but we dont want to pay double of course. I hope everyone gets informed soon. Its unfortunately not the case at this moment..

Thanks, Sofie. This is the big problem, of course: a centralised pre-paid ticketing system puts all the money and power into the hands of the government authorities, turning the local site guardians and officials into rubber-stampers (or, worse, making them redundant altogether). Crucially – from their point of view – the Jordan Pass removes cash from their interactions with visitors.

This has been a massive problem at Petra for years now, where the horse-handlers routinely demand extra cash or ‘tips’ for a short, unsatisfying ride that has, for no good reason, been wrapped up into the Petra entrance ticket – because, otherwise, they see no cash from the visitors at all, and must rely solely on the centralised handout system. The whole set-up is a mess, from which the handlers, the tourists, and the country all lose out – and the only winners are the invisible men who actually own the horses. They get richer. It’s a terrible way to run the country’s No.1 attraction.

So will we now see impoverished site guardians around Jordan seeking ‘tips’ from visitors holding the pre-paid Jordan Pass? Let’s hope not. Let’s hope the resources accruing to the Ministry of Tourism are channelled into a pay rise for guardians of remote or little-visited sites, and into public education campaigns explaining the Jordan Pass to Jordanians.

Hi Matthew, indeed, everyone wants the best for the Jordan people and we hope tourism will flourish the next months/years. Lets hope the money goes to the best goals, future minded.

Next to that, we did Petra today, and the dunkey/mule rides should be prohibited … It’s awful to see how little kids slap the animals and how tourists (some perfectly fit and young, some really overweight) use them to go up the stairs to the Monastry. They should just avoid this. Next to that, we had a beautiful day!

25th September 2015

Van Strydonck Nicole

Hello
Nobody says that he(it) has problems with Jordanpass (especially for the price(prize) of the visa) nevertheless some tourists are in Jordan.
No return on their experiment ??????

Hey Matthew, just heard this morning from 6 female tourists I suggested the Jordan Pass to (they did not book through us). Purchase online seemed fine, but when they arrived “the immigration officials had no idea what to do with it”. 4 different lines later, “the last man eventually looked it up online and ended up being super helpful”. Sigh…

hi James – I can answer this: yes, officials at Amman airport are now aware of the Jordan Pass. Buy the pass in advance before you leave home, and you can show it at the visa desk in the airport to get a free visa.

Hello!
Did someone experience the same as me with the Jordan Pass after Booking online?:
2 days ago, on 06.01.2016, I bought the Jordan Pass for 2 days Petra online. I expected a confirmation ether by phone or email but nothing! Only from my bank account I got the message, that the amount was debited. Does that just take time, do I have to be patient, or should I be concerned?
Thomas

Yes, thanks, it is done!
I contacted the official “contact”-address, they said they would have issued the ticket. When I replied that I didn’t receive, also my Spam-Folder was empty, they issued from new and I got it.
Thanks for caring anyhow!
Thomas

I wish I had found this site before entering Jordan. We bought the Jordan pass in advance, stayed for two weeks and expected to get a refund WHEN leaving the country (at the point when we could also prove that we had stayed for more than 3nights). However, once you have paid the visa fee it’s impossible to get it back – showing receipts and Jordan pass didn t help since the passport control officers spoke poor English and didnt seem to know what the Jordan pass was… All in all, we had a great stay in Jordan, but a pity about the visa fee.

Bought the Jordan Pass in advance, no problems with credit card payment, and it promptly arrived in my Spam-Box ;).

Hassle started at the immigration – seems like I printed the pass too small (half size, I like to keep trees alive and not to turn them into paper, and yes I tried to scan the QR-code myself and it read fine), and then got sent to the police, which was another unnecessary 15min delay. After that little side-trip they “confiscated” the printout without issuing a substitute – not good if you have to present the pass at the ticket offices later on. Unfortunately I didn´t take a picture of the scribbles they wrote on my Jordan pass, would have been interesting to see what the problem actually was, but no one was able or willing to do so.

After re-printing the pass there were no further problems – it got accepted without problems at all the sites I visited, usually with just a “Jordan pass? – just go in!”. It was stamped and the QR-code scanned only at three sites (Amman citadel, Amman roman theater and Petra), the rest of the sites simply didn´t bother.

Another reason to buy the Jordan pass: at Amman Queen Alia airport all ATM in the arrival zone before immigration are operated by AJIB, and they charge a whopping 5JD for cash-withdrawal with a foreign credit/banking card – the other ATM in the arrival hall after passing immigration and customs charge far less (1-2JD, as I remember, but there might be one that is free). So if you buy the Jordan pass, you immediately save 5JD without ever having visited any of the sites!

What can be improved? Well, it would be nice to have a separate lane for people who already hold a visa at the airport, to include entrance fees to RSCN/Wild Jordan managed sites and the Jordan museum at Amman, and to have some clarification what the price would be if you´d like to visit Petra 4 or more days…

Yes I’d love to see all these sites and buy the JTP but I’m wondering what mode of transportation is best to get around Jordan to see these places, a bus? or rent a car? or what?
And I’m thinking of entering from Eilat . Can I or drive into Aqaba?
Do I need to fly into Jordan? Can I start at Wadi Run?
Are there tour shuttles that make runs to these places?

hi Esther – for ease of getting around Jordan, I’d always recommend a hire car. If you’re entering from Eilat, you can arrange with a car hire firm to meet you at the land border, so you can do the paperwork there & drive yourself onwards (it will cost more, of course). You don’t need to fly into Jordan. Yes, all local tour companies will be able to price an itinerary for you.